In U.S., 52% Back Law to Legalize Gay Marriage in 50 States

In U.S., 52% Back Law to Legalize Gay Marriage in 50 States

If given the opportunity to vote on a law legalizing gay marriage in all 50 states, the slight majority of Americans, 52%, say they would cast their vote in favor, while 43% would vote against it.

Across the nation's major demographic, political, and religious groups, support for the proposed law ranges from as high as 77% among self-described liberal Americans, and 76% among those with no religious affiliation, to as low as 23% among weekly churchgoers, and 30% among Republicans and conservatives.

Other groups showing at least 60% support for legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide include Democrats, adults aged 18 to 34, those who rarely or never attend a church or other place of worship, moderates, Easterners, and Catholics. Others showing less than 50% support include Protestants, adults 55 and older, Southerners, and men.

The groups showing the most ambiguity about such a same-sex marriage law, with between 51% and 53% in favor and 43% to 45% opposed, include Midwesterners, nonwhites, and adults aged 35 to 54.

To be honest, as a gay man myself I don’t think anyone should get married. It’s a damn waste of a good tree.

Just speculating but I can imagine how marriage would fizzle out in the near future to a point where it’s only going to be seen as desirable and necessary to the religious folk who need the blessing and permission of their big daddy in the sky to have sex with another person, set up housekeeping, produce “legitimate” offspring, etc.

As a straight female, I can’t see how it’s an attractive option to sign a legal contract binding oneself to another person. Of course here in the States married people have significant legal advantages with tax breaks, inheritance laws, and medical insurance. It’s interesting though, to hear what young women have to say about this situation. My two daughters and their friends are in their early 20’s and when I ask them what they’re worried about, they say that they can’t figure out how they will pursue their own career while balancing the demands of a marriage and children. If both people in a marriage have their own career, what will happen if one of them is transferred to a distant location? It used to be assumed that the wife would give up everything and follow her husband but this idea just doesn’t fly with the younger women and I must say that I agree with them. I don’t want my daughters to sacrifice their careers so that someone else can advance their own. I guess this is a problem that gays and straights share together, as well as the child care difficulties when two partners are employed full time.

I’m watching with interest how young people are dealing with these difficulties. I’m not hopeful that U.S. will ever have universal healthcare but if it does come to pass then it will be one less reason to sign on the dotted line of the marriage contract here in the States. I’m interested in how the situation is viewed by young people in Europe where apparently, health insurance, retirement benefits and maybe some other benefits are not tied to legal marriage and how this might affect the number of people who enter into a state of legal marriage.

All good points, and I agree with most of it, but many of the problems you mention (i.e., what happens if one partner gets transferred) are problems for any couple with children, regardless of marital status, presuming both partners want to be involved with the childrearing. Not marrying doesn’t solve that problem unless you also don’t have kids.

In reply to #2 by LaurieB:
All good points, and I agree with most of it, but many of the problems you mention (i.e., what happens if one partner gets transferred) are problems for any couple with children, regardless of marital status, presuming both partners want to be involved with the childrearing. Not marrying doesn’t solve that problem unless you also don’t have kids.

In reply to #1 by Solace:

To be honest, as a gay man myself I don’t think anyone should get married. It’s a damn waste of a good tree.

Just speculating but I can imagine how marriage would fizzle out in the near future to a point where it’s only going to be seen as desirable and necessary to the r…

In the eyes of the law a contract is all it should be, and I’m sure many would enter that contract voluntarily. Interesting that the opinion was so far to the not legalizing standpoint in the Clinton years and quickly converged during GWB and crossed over after his reign of error. Crazy that just 9 years ago the Gallup results showed that 49% said that consenting gay relationships should be illegal vs 46% who did not.

As a male who grew up after marriage was in anyway considered compulsory I still see a great value in marriage. Not as you speculate as a legal protection but as a symbolic way of committing yourself exclusively to one person. Not withstanding you might marry the biggest adulterer in the world it is the act of saying to someone that you would love to spend the rest of your life with them and them alone that is the most important part to me. It also says, I’m not holding out for someone better/younger/blonder/etc.

Also Solace cutting down a tree is not necessarily a waste, billions of trees are planted every year in North America, they capture carbon from the atmosphere and documents like marriage licences will keep that carbon safe in the top drawer for many years before it is recycled or buried in a landfill where it will continue to sequester the carbon for the very long term.

In reply to #1 by Solace:

To be honest, as a gay man myself I don’t think anyone should get married. It’s a damn waste of a good tree.

Just speculating but I can imagine how marriage would fizzle out in the near future to a point where it’s only going to be seen as desirable and necessary to the r…

What is the actual science of homosexuality? I hear it constantly quoted that exactly 10% of the population is gay. But that is scientifically absurd, no other attribute amongst a varied population is constant despite variations in environment and genetic make-up. Both Kinsey and Freud believed that Homosexuality was mutable and effected by society, so why do we not believe now that homosexuality is not itself an unscientific religious belief like polygamy or a mental illness like depression or anorexia?

I think some people are concerned that if normal biological pairing and the consequent property ownership by families is not protected (in some way) then the state will gain control of too much of our lives, a fear which has been shown to be validated many times throughout history. This would surely be the case if governments become the sole arbiters of who can have children (after all they are the ones that choose which gay couples are fit to be parents).

There is some evidence for this idea, as marriage is in decline and although the rich are not that adversely affected by frequent divorce, the children of the poor are massively more so, which we do not see in the popular media. If young adults, who are scientifically proven to be chemically confused by their hormones through their age of majority, are bombarded with homosexual ideation through the media then are we that sure that it will not lead first to an anti marriage majority and then to an anti straight / anti monogamy majority?

I see a potential in the spread of homosexuality misinformation by the liberal elite, for creating an unstoppable momentum behind the flow of children from those whose biological parents have had their resources pulled away from them by impossibly unfair governments, to the those who have been chosen as state approved as parents. It seems to me to be the subversion of the poor by the rich for the rich’s own selfish and often sexually perverted pleasures.

The fecundity of society has to be a moral issue surely if it is to have consequences on our children?

To be honest, I never thought that same sex marriage would ever happen. Now that in the last ten years countries are now making it Legal I think it is Brilliant and wish those who want it all the happiness in the world.Who cares what the Church thinks !